


The Confessional Onsen

by Kamil_the_Awesome



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Hot Springs & Onsen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28332165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamil_the_Awesome/pseuds/Kamil_the_Awesome
Summary: Upon his invitation, Sakura has traveled to the Land of Hot Springs to train with Kakashi. Or so he has requested.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi (implied)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	The Confessional Onsen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyRavenhart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRavenhart/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, especially to LadyRavenhart

_This…is a training facility?_ Haruno Sakura thought doubtfully, staring at the sprawling onsen complex before her. Over a year had passed since the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, yet rebuilding efforts across the Elemental Nations lurched on. Kumogakure, eradicated during the war, had just been finally reconstructed. That an insignificant, ignored region like the Land of Hot Water had received any attention at all made Sakura wary of what she was being dragged into.

She had come out to this place because of her former teacher and mentor, Kakashi Hatake. Sakura wasn’t sure why precisely Kakashi had been as adamant as he was, but she couldn’t draw up a reason to deny his request with reconstruction efforts mostly finished or on hiatus. Though if she had known precisely where he would bring her, she would’ve thought twice.

For as much as she respected and even cared for him, Kakashi was an unabashed pervert. One whose preference for literature came from the mind of a legendary figure who, according to Naruto, spent more time peeping at onsens than actually training her friend.

With a troubled sigh, Sakura crossed the final distance to the onsen complex and passed through the wide entrance. The lobby area was remarkably empty, with the clear exception of a tired old man behind a counter, distracted by whatever was in his hands. She stared at him for a few seconds before, with a light sigh, approaching him.

“Hello,” Sakura said. The man remained distracted. “Hello?” She waited a moment, then drew in a great breath.

“STOP IGNORING ME!”

The man flinched, finally glancing up to stare at her. His eyes lingered too long right below her collarbone, but finally flicked up to her face and her glowering emerald eyes. “Ay uh, can I help ya?”

Sakura nearly insulted the man, but swallowed her fury and said with false politeness, “I’ve arrived for a joint shinobi training…thing.”

The man frowned at her. “I don’t know whatcha mean, girly. This is an onsen, and you don’t look like no ninja I’ve ever seen.”

Her right hand clenched. It would be all too easy to level the onsen, ruining the man before her in the process. Even so, she knew she shouldn’t do something as foolish as that. Haruno Sakura was a hero of the recent war, and there were pressures that came alongside the unwanted title.

“Has a ‘Kakashi Hatake’ signed in?” asked Sakura. The man blinked dumbly. “He’s a little over two meters tall. Masked face, silver hair—”

“And excellent taste in literature,” the man finished, nodding. His eyes trailed down her body, never returning to her emerald eyes. “Yes, I think I know who you mean. He checked in a couple of hours ago, even though he was supposed to arrive yesterday. Said something about black cats and the elderly, though I think he was just pullin’ my leg.”

“Sounds just like him,” she muttered, sighing. Her life had taken a turn for the worst, now that Naruto was the respectable one of the old Team Seven.

_And who knows what Sasuke is off doing._

Shoving aside thoughts about the others, Sakura said, “Well, I would like to check in then. I’m Haruno Sakura.”

The man nodded, though something about his expression made her suspicious.

“What. Is. It?”

“Well…Kakashi-san specifically requested a single room…and that you would be sharing.”

The man ducked behind his counter, right before with her signature roar of “SHANNARO!” Sakura created a small crater in the lobby floor. He glanced up at her and flinched away with a squeak when she growled at him, right hand raised in a threatening fist.

* * *

Sakura hesitantly opened the door to the room she was sharing with Kakashi. If they were anywhere else, she wouldn’t have minded that they had to share, even if she would complain about his frugality. But in this case, while staying at an onsen, she was deeply suspicious of these circumstances.

“Oh, hello there,” greeted Kakashi. He had an indistinct orange book in one hand, his single exposed eye focused not upon her arrival, but the text before him. “I was wondering when you would arrive.”

“If I knew this was an onsen, I would’ve thought otherwise,” Sakura replied dryly. She entered the room, setting her bag down by a futon. “What is going on here?”

Kakashi paused, glancing away from his book and towards her. “Whatever you wish it to be, Sakura. If you wish it to be a relaxing weekend, stressful training…or training to get rid of your stress.”

She stared at him, mentally counting to five, then picked up her bag and chucked it with the full extent of her power. As expected, Kakashi caught the bag with his free hand, though the force unsettled him somewhat. “Must you, Sakura? You are a kunoichi, trained in both the shinobi and the feminine arts.” He paused, head tilting slightly. “Or did Tsunade not trouble to instruct you in that manner? I admit I spent more time working with ANBU than with you during those years Naruto was away.”

“It’s not as you think, Kakashi-sensei. You’re my teacher, not a target or an assignment.”

“I doubt Sasuke would appreciate you speaking of him in that manner.”

Sakura scoffed. “That ship has gone and sailed, Kakashi. Sasuke would rather walk the earth for the rest of his life than trouble to stay in Konoha.”

“I guess that’s true,” he eventually replied, turning back to his book. “If you wish to train with me as promised, we begin tomorrow.”

“At what time?”

“Whenever I wish.”

Sakura sighed, shaking her head. “Oh great. It’s like I’m a genin again.”

* * *

“Why, precisely, are you having me stand on the bath?”

Kakashi, wearing only his mask, looked up from the book he had spread out against the edge of the bath. Sakura had insisted upon wearing clothes, though the steam had already sunk in to most of her dress, sticking it close to her skin.

“You’re the one who mentioned being treated like a genin yesterday,” he remarked.

She turned around, arms crossed beneath her bust. “I’m not a genin anymore, _Hatake_.”

Even though he was wearing a mask, she swore he smirked at her. “Clearly not.”

“Pervert,” Sakura growled. She channeled chakra into her right foot, tapping the water’s surface. It rippled, striking waves shooting out from her. He ignored most of it, except for the specific wave she had intended for a specific target.

She smirked as water splashed onto his copy of _Icha Icha Tactics_ , the exact book given to him when Naruto returned from his travels and helped them learn the truth about Pein. It was cruel and callous of her, but honestly, he deserved it.

_And it isn’t as if Jiraiya signed the damned thing._

Kakashi slowly reached out towards his ruined book. Sakura almost felt bad for him, but she was certain he could repeat the book, word for word, from memory. Instead, as he appeared to morn for a book of all things, she tapped her right foot on the water.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Kakashi turned to face her, his body shaking. “Why would you do that? My precious book? A precious gift from one of my precious students…”

“You’re a terrible teacher, Kakashi,” Sakura stated. She ignored how he tensed. “Frankly speaking, the teacher for each member of _your_ Team Seven was one of the Legendary Sannin. The most you did for any of us was to hand Sasuke your Chidori, mindless of his future intentions.”

“You didn’t care at the time,” Kakashi pointed out.

Sakura looked away, gritting her teeth. “I…I was a stupid, civilian girl whose head was filled with nonsense. I started to grow up, under Tsunade’s tutelage, but I wasn’t really a proper shinobi until the Akatsuki began making their move.”

“And that’s my fault?”

“Among others.”

Kakashi stared at her. At her eyes, and the violet mark upon her forehead which displayed her mastery. “Perhaps you’re right, Sakura. I was a poor teacher. Maybe that’s why I told that lie to bring you out here.”

That made her frown. “So it was a lie. What did you really want?”

“I’m approaching my 35th birthday. Say what you wish, but a man of my age begins thinking about the future…and I don’t have much of one, as things are.”

She blinked several times, and then Sakura realized just precisely what Kakashi—what Hatake—was suggesting. She turned to face him, emerald eyes wide. “You cannot be serious. Me and you…like what? Dating? _Marriage_?”

He leaned against the pool’s edge. “Would it be so bad, married to me? From what I hear from a few associates, women like a perverted partner. More…pleasurable.”

The implication sunk in and she flushed pink akin to her hair. She briefly considered what Kakashi had just told her, and Sakura hated how she couldn’t find a plausible argument against his words. Worse, what he had suggested wasn’t a bad deal. It would be a strange transition, but not an uncomfortable one.

She turned away, using her hair to hide her gaze from his. “I’ll consider it, Ka—I mean, Hatake. When we get back to Konoha, but I won’t be easy to convince.”

He snorted slightly. “At least say my name as if you like me.”

Sakura sighed, but smiled nonetheless. “Yes, yes…Hatake.”


End file.
